6533b837fe1ef96bd12a1f8a
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Signatures of topological phase transitions in Josephson current-phase discontinuities
Pasquale MarraRoberta CitroAlessandro Braggiosubject
Phase transitionFOS: Physical sciences02 engineering and technologyClassification of discontinuitiesTopology01 natural sciencesSymmetry protected topological orderSuperconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)Quantum mechanics0103 physical sciencesMesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)ElectronicOptical and Magnetic Materials010306 general physicsQuantum tunnellingTopological quantum numberElectronic Optical and Magnetic Materials; Condensed Matter PhysicsSuperconductivityPhysicsCondensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale PhysicsCondensed matter physicsCondensed Matter - SuperconductivityFermionCondensed Matter Physics021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology0210 nano-technologyGround statedescription
Topological superconductors differ from topologically trivial ones for the presence of topologically protected zero-energy modes. To date, experimental evidence of topological superconductivity in nanostructures has been mainly obtained by measuring the zero-bias conductance peak via tunneling spectroscopy. Here, we propose an alternative and complementary experimental recipe to detect topological phase transitions in these systems. We show in fact that, for a finite-sized system with broken time-reversal symmetry, discontinuities in the Josephson current-phase relation correspond to the presence of zero-energy modes and to a change in the fermion parity of the groundstate. Such discontinuities can be experimentally revealed by a characteristic temperature dependence of the current, and can be related to a finite anomalous current at zero phase in systems with broken phase-inversion symmetry.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-06-20 |